The present invention relates generally and in various embodiments to illuminator assemblies. More specifically, the present invention relates generally and in various embodiments to illuminator assemblies including heat sinks.
Although various implementations of the present invention, among many, may be described herein with reference to the specific illustrative embodiments related to particular applications, those skilled in the art will understand that the invention is not in any way intended to be, nor should be, limited to such embodiments and/or applications. Those having ordinary skill in the art and reference to the description of the embodiments disclosed and described herein will recognize that additional modifications, applications, and other embodiments may fall within the scope of the claimed invention, and that there may be additional fields in which the present invention may be practiced.
Compact sources of light are needed for a variety of applications in dentistry and surgery such as surgical cutting, curing of dental composite materials, and activating tooth-whitening materials, for example. Furthermore, dentists may use high intensity light for correcting diseases or defects in hard tissues such as the enamel and dentin portions of the teeth where drills are normally used. In other applications, for example, dentists may use high intensity light for curing a variety of resins and composites in a patient's mouth and for bleaching teeth. Dental composite curing and teeth bleaching application generally require sources of light that emit light having wavelengths in the ultra violet (UV) portion of the spectrum. Surgeons may use high power/high intensity sources of light in certain applications for correcting diseases or defects in soft tissues for which scalpels and other similar surgical cutting instruments are normally used. Cutting applications also may require sources of light that emit light having wavelengths in various portions of the spectrum.
Working in small confined areas such as a patient's mouth, for example, requires that the source of light be compact in size and highly maneuverable. Recent advances in solid state semiconductor technology in the field of laser diodes and light emitting diodes (LEDs) have enabled the miniaturization of these sources of light. Although compact in size, these solid state sources of light generally do not generate an adequate amount of power for the applications described above. When conventional solid state sources of light are driven with higher electrical input power to generate higher optical output power, thermal management becomes difficult and is an important obstacle to overcome in order to provide a source of light having enough intensity in optical output power to make it useful for certain dental and surgical applications, and other fields that may require a high intensity source of light for working in confined areas.